Kathy Bates is playing the ghost of Charlie on Two And A Half Men — and this is the first official photo — cigar, bowling shirt, and all!

The episode airs on April 30th, and deals with Alan suffering a minor heart attack. This, of course, is the perfect set up to have Bates play Charlie's ghost.

Here's what Chuck Lorre had to say:

"We knew we wanted Charlie's spirit to visit with Alan while he was sedated in the hospital. The question was how. When Kathy's name was first floated as 'his incarnation' we all just started laughing and decided to reach out to her. We were also determined to stay true to the character of Charlie Harper, and that was a promise I made to Kathy when we first talked. Thankfully, Kathy immediately saw the twisted humor of it all and signed on."

Apparently she even studied old episodes to nail Charlie Sheen's mannerisms and cadence!

Lorre continued:

"I think everyone on the show would say the end result was one of the best episodes of the series. It's pretty damn funny watching this world-class actress beautifully recreate not just Charlie's character, but also the sibling relationship he had with Jon Cryer's character, Alan Harper. I'm hoping we can have her back in a recurring role — Alan's demonic spirit guide. She really rocked this thing."

LOLz!

We can't even imagine what this will be like in action, and we fear the picture doesn't really do it justice!

Lorre must be missing Sheen…has to use the "Charlie" character to get ratings. Can we say Ashton is epic fail???? Suck up your pride Lorre and get Charlie Sheen back or close the set completely, the only one worth watching on your show is Alan.